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Opioid prescribing for chronic noncancer pain syndromes has increased remarkably during the past 2 decades, such that more than 3% of adults in the U.S. are now on long-term opioid therapy. Opioid overdoses have increased concomitantly, but only 44% of individuals who died of opioid overdose had received prescriptions for the drug. The rate of overdose in patients who are prescribed opioids is unknown. To estimate this rate, investigators reviewed records for 9940 patients (60% women) enrolled in a Washington State HMO who received new prescriptions for opioids for noncancer pain and filled two additional prescriptions within 90 days from 1997 through 2005. Patients were followed for a mean of 42 months.
The rate of overdose was 148 per 100,…